Anything special ned to be done? The surface of a matte finish seems gritty compared to blued or stainless. What is the best way to clean it? Does it corrode faster than other finishes? I found an M700 SPS new-in-box, never fired, being sold on consignment for $80 off the regular cost, but I have no experience with matte finishes.

A matte finish is a blued finish so you care for it the same way, keep it oiled. The difference between the matte finish and a shiny blue is in how the metal is prepped before it is blued.

Matt is pretty...It is basically bead blasted metal that has been blued..But this very fact it is full of pits and pits hold water and holding water creates rust, therefore bead blasted matt finishes, though pretty, rust like crazy so you must keep a coat of oil on them..I have some, but most of mine are rust blued...As for a hot blue a soft grt. polish like a standard factory blue is probably the best of the inexpensive blues IMO....

Ray

I think when you refer to pits holding moisture you are thinking of sand blasted metal not bead blasted.

Remington blasts their metal with a course sand or aluminum oxide when they want a matte finish. And it is very prone to rust. I see a lot of them brought into my gun shop regularly.

On the other hand when my customer wants a matte finish I use glass beads which are not abrasive. They peen the metal. I find that type of metal prepartation and a hot blue to be very rust resistant with proper care. Second only to rust bluing.

MikeB

Your Remington must be kept well oiled regularly or it will rust in a heart beat. A few years ago I was an armorer for a state prison system. They had a lot of Remington firearms with the same course matte finish and I stayed very busy trying to prevent rust. It was an exercise of frustration.

Matte blue shows contact with hard objects much more so avoid metal studs, zips etc.

Try giving it coat of wax, the wax will full the pores some and then don't buff, it will stay dull.